07/31/2015 at 12:00 pm

Churches all around the world bear the name ‘Trinity Church.’ The most unusual by far happens to be a small Russian Orthodox Trinity Church made of Siberian pine wood on the tip of King George Island in Antarctica. The most famous, arguably, is Manhattan’s Trinity Church. Once the tallest building in the city, the church, actually three churches of the same name that were built on the same ground, is one of the most well-endowed and recognizable sights in New York City. In another time, it was the first thing sailors and voyagers saw when pulling into New York Harbor. Today, though it is dwarfed by buildings, it holds a place in the Financial District that is closely intertwined with history. Here are 10 of the most enticing secrets we dug up about it.

07/31/2015 at 10:00 am

Just days after the New York Daily News proclaimed that “Staten Island wants to be the new Brooklyn,” 20 intrepid Untapped Cities readers met at the St. George Ferry Terminal on Staten Island at 10 am on a Saturday for a Behind the Scenes NYC Tour of the borough’s north shore developments with the NYCEDC. It’s not lost on residents, community leaders and small businesses on this traditionally forgotten boroughthat Staten Island could be the new frontier. Combine rising rents in other boroughs with substantial city investment and redevelopments plans for Staten Island (plus space), and you’ve got the makings of a new destination, those involved hope.

07/31/2015 at 9:00 am

From 9pm to midnight this Saturday August 1st, 375-foot images of the world’s most endangered animals will be projected onto the south side of the Empire State Building in the aptly titled, Projecting Change: The Empire State Building. [Update: see the photos from the event here.]

The duo behind the project are Travis Threlkel, co-founder of Obscura Digital, a visuals and graphics firm and Louie Psihoyos, a filmmaker and photographer who directed the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove, detailing the hunting of dolphins in Japan. In succession, their forty 20,000-lumen projectors will cast digital images of a snow leopard, a golden lion tamarin and manta rays, along with snakes, birds and various mammals and sea creatures onto a 33-story span of the building from West 31st Street rooftop.